Ready openable envelope



Nov. 19, 1940. w STUHLMAN 2,222,341

READY OPENABLE ENVELOPE Filed June 21, 1939 I /0 I I I l I I F I v za r i /0 g I I E 6" I I I I i I WLL/AM \STUHLMAN Patented Nov. 19, 1940 UNITED STATES READY OPENABLE ENVELOPE William Stuhlman, Des Plaines, Ill., assignor to The American Paper Goods Company, a corporation of Connecticut Application June 21, 1939, Serial No. 280,329

1 Claim.

The present invention relates to envelopes or containers for the packaging and merchandising of relatively small quantities of materials, such, for example, as individual portions of powders used in the preparation of beverages and more particularly to an envelope which is so constructed that one end thereof may be completely opened to allow the ready discharge of the contents therefrom.

I Products packaged in envelopes of the above indicated type are used to a large extent in restaurants, soda fountains or the like and it is essential that in the discharging of the contents therefrom, no foreign matter comingle with 5 the contents or that the contents touch the hands of the person handling same. Heretofore, so far as applicant is aware, envelopes having a ready openable end employed a rip string, or the like, or the openable closure was sealed 20 throughout its width by an adhesive seam;

wherein the area of the adhesive was so limited that it offered less resistance to opening than the envelope material did to tearing. Obviously the use of rip strings increase the cost of the 25 envelopes and in tearing, particles of the envelopes might comingle with the contents thereof as the contents are discharged. When using adhesive seams which are coextensive in Width but limited in area to reduce the resistance to open- 30 ing thereof, extreme care must be taken to assure a seam having the same adhesion characteristic throughout, or a quick and complete opening will not result. Moreover, in emptying same the contents pass over the adhesively treated closure flap and thus tend to stick to or become contaminated thereby.

The object of the present invention is to provide an improved, simple and highly efiicient envelope or container wherein the aforemen- 40 tioned objections are eliminated and wherein a complete opening thereof is readily accomplished to permit the discharge of the contents therefrom.

A still further object is an envelope of the 45 above indicated type which may be readily made on the usual type of automatic machinery now available and which envelope is simple in construction, economical to manufacture and particularly adapted for the purposes for which it 50 is intended.

Other objects will be in part obvious and in part pointed out more in detail hereinafter.

The invention accordingly consists in the features of construction, combination of elements 55 and arrangement of parts which will be exempliiied in the construction hereafter set forth and the scope of the application of which will be indicated in the appended claim.

In the accompanying drawing:

Figure 1 is a plan view of a blank prior to being 5 folded into an envelope embodying the inventio herein;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the blank shown in Figure 1 folded to form the body portion of the envelope; 10

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the envelope in Fig. 2 with the ready openable end thereof sealed;

. Fig. 4 is a view of the envelope with both ends sealed; and

Fig. 5 is a view of the envelope showing how the contents are discharged therefrom.

Referring to the drawing, the sheet material from which the envelope is to be made is initially stamped to provide a blank A of such size and contour that the complete envelope may be folded therefrom.

The blank A includes an elongated sheet divided into a central portion b and laterally extending wing portions 0 and d. The outer edge of the wing portion 0 is treated with a vertical strip of adhesive e and the wing portions are of such width that when folded inwardly they overlie the central portion b and overlap one another to form an envelope body part 10 having overlying front and'rear walls Ii and I2.

In accordance with the invention herein the front wall H of the envelope is of such length that the ends thereof extend beyond the edges of the rear wall i2 to provide top and bottom closure or sealing flaps i6 and I8 which flaps are substantially coextensive in width with the front wall ll. Furthermore, the back wall I2 is provided at its lower edge with a substantially centrally located opening flap 20 of restricted width relative to the sealing flap l8. Because of the restricted width of flap 20 the inner face of sealing fiap [8 has exposed end areas 22 and 24 spaced to each side of the flap 2!! and adapted to receive thereon a gob of glue 26. After the gobs of glue 26 have been applied the lower end of the envelope is folded along the line F thus reversing the sealing flap [8 and flap 20 to overlie the body part I 0 of the envelope, and bring the inner face of the exposed areas 22 and 24 into contact with the outer face of the rear wall I2, whereupon the gobs of glue 26 will adhesively secure the two together at widely separated points and thus provide the body part with a closure extending the full width of one of its ends. When so closed a. greater portion of the flap 20 will underlie the sealing flap l8, but preferably it is of such length that the end thereof will extend above the sealing flap and provide a finger gripping tab 25 for readily opening the closure.

With the envelope so constructed and the lower 'end closed, it may be fed to the usual filling machine, whereupon the contents are fed into the envelope and the upper flap l6 folded and adhesively secured to close the upper end thereof. Thereafter, however, the envelope will be' reversed to have the ready openable end to the top.

In order to open the filled envelope, it may readily be held in the palm of the hands, as indicated in Fig. 5, whereupon the side edges of body part It! may be pressed toward one another to belly the envelope out and drop the contents towards the lower end thereof. The gripping tab 25 may then be grasped and pulled upwardly, and inasmuch as th tab contacts a substantial area of the sealing flap l8 and the flap is secured by the widely spread apart gobs of glue, the force of pulling on the tab 25 will readily separate the flap I8 from the rear wall I2 and then pull it upwardly with the tab. As readily seen, the construction is particularly advantageous in'that when the envelope is reversed for empting, the front wall II will be bellied out and a spout effect produced intermediate of the wide spread gobs of adhesive, whereby the contents of the envelope may be discharged with substantially no contact with the adhesive areas, thus completely eliminating the possibility of the contents sticking thereto or any small particles of adhesive being discharged therewith.

As many changes could be made in the above construction and many apparently widely different embodiments of this invention could be made without departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawused in the following claim is intended to cover .all of generic and specific features of the inven-' tion herein described and all statements of the scope of the invention which, as a matter of language, might be said-to fall therebetween.

I claim as my invention: I An envelope having a front bodypanel, flaps integral therewith at the side and overlapped in sealing relation to form a rear body panel, one end of said front panel and flaps having throughout their end dimensions integral flaps which are also integral with each other at their ends adjacent the body panels, the end flap on the front body panel being'substantially rectangular, the combined flaps on the parts forming the back panel being of less length than the flap on the front body panel with the exception of the central portion of the rear flap which is of greater length than the flap of the front body panel to provide a protruding finger grasping portion, the combined flaps of the front and back panels being folded over on the back panel, and means securing the front flap to the back panel at points on opposite sides of saidprotruding finger grasping portion.

WILLIAM STUI-ILMAN. 

